Calculating Safety: Reckoning with Domestic Violence in the Context of Child Support Parenting Time Initiatives

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This article explores domestic violence-related implications of federal and state initiatives seeking to establish parenting time in connection with entry of child support orders. The authors recommend and explore two critical family violence safeguards. First, parents need the information and support required by them to make deliberative decisions about parenting time, including: (1) understanding the legal meaning, consequences, and practical effect of formally establishing parenting time; (2) exploration of the extent to which various parenting time arrangements are in the best interests of the child; and (3) knowledge of the nature of dispute resolution and court processes available to them. Second, parents, rather than child support officials, should decide whether, when, and how to pursue establishment of parenting time.